Abstract
Purpose :
Suture breakage and suture degradation are challenges in many anterior segment surgical procedures when corneal sutures are used. We compared the standard of care corneal suture material (10-0 nylon) to a biocompatible novel material (metallic alloy) in an experimental ex-vivo comparison study using porcine eyes.
Methods :
Each eye was prepared using an infusion line on a 27 gauge needle placed within the anterior chamber and the bottle height was adjusted to mimic the physiologic intraocular pressure (IOP). A full-thickness wound was created perpendicularly to the central cornea with a 3.2 mm blade to mimic a wound sustained by trauma. The surgeon used the suture material (either 10-0 nylon vs metallic alloy) to achieve closure via a simple interrupted technique on each of the test eyes. The bottle height was then raised to the maximum height, or until failure of the sutures (noted by a positive Seidel test using fluorescein test strip). The IOP at either failure or maximum was recorded.
A total of 7 eyes were tested, 4 of which were included for final statistical analysis. The remaining 3 eyes were excluded due to incomplete closure noted prior to stress testing. The mean IOP at failure was compared (10-0 nylon vs metallic alloy) and compared via Student's t-test.
Results :
The mean IOP at baseline prior to stress testing was similar between the 10-0 Nylon vs metallic alloy at 21 mmHg vs 19 mmHg, respectively (with p value=0.2). The mean IOP at failure was also similar between the nylon and metallic alloy groups (86.5 mmHg vs 91 mmHg, respectively) with p value=0.5.
Conclusions :
The novel metallic alloy suture device had similar closure efficacy compared to the 10-0 nylon in our study. Future applications for this suture are currently being explored.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.